a) Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a chin loop headset comprising two acoustic transducers and two side pieces, to the upper ends of which is secured a respective one of the transducers and the upper ends of which can be moved elastically away from each other and which are connected together at their lower ends.
b) Description of the Related Art
As is known, headsets are in the form of a chin loop headset, in particular when circuit boards with electrical circuits are to be mounted to the headset. Known chin loop headsets for that purpose have a small housing which can be positioned under the chin in front of the chest of the user and from which two elastic side pieces lead in a slightly arcuate configuration, past the cheeks, to the ears. Acoustic transducers are mounted there at the upper ends of the side pieces. The transducers are usually fitted with ear pads which cushion the pressure with which the transducers are pressed against the ears gently and in a manner which is comfortable from the point of view of the user. The contract pressure of the transducers against the ears is produced by the upper ends of the side pieces with the transducers being moved away from each other and, when that happens by the side pieces being elastically transversely deformed over their length so that the ear pads of the acoustic transducers, which are then placed in the external parts of the ears of the user, are resiliently lightly pressed into the ears and are held therein and ensure good acoustic transmission.
Unlike the situation with headsets with side pieces which extend over the head, the entire weight of chin loop headsets is supported in the pressure-sensitive external parts of the ears of the user. However, so that the chin loop headset does not merely slip out of the ears of the user due to its own weight but at the least in the event of slight movements of the head, the spring characteristics of the elastically laterally deformable side pieces and the initial non-deflected condition of the side pieces prior to the chin loop headset being donned by the user are matched to each other in such a way that, upon deflection of the side pieces by virtue of the transducer ear pads being fitted into the ears, there is sufficiently great contact pressure prevailing thereagainst.
A problem here, however, is that different users have individually different distances between their ears and that as a result a contact pressure which is individually different occurs, depending on that individual distance between ears. Consequently, in the case of users who have narrow heads, a chin loop headset may have a tendency to slip out of the ears while the same chin loop headset when used by a person with a wide head causes unpleasant pressure in the ears.
The primary object of the invention is, therefore, that of providing a chin loop headset which, irrespective of individual dimensions of the anatomy of the head of its user, ensures a contact pressure for the acoustic transducers against the external parts of the ears, which is sufficiently strong to provide a secure hold and sufficiently weak that it is not perceived as being unpleasant by the user.
In accordance with the invention, that object is attained by a chin loop headset comprising two acoustic transducers and two side pieces, each having an upper end. To the upper ends of the side pieces are fixed respective ones of the transducers. The upper ends of the side pieces are to be moved elastically away from each other. The side pieces are connected together at lower ends thereof at a connection. Means are included for adjusting the distance between the upper ends at the connection of the lower ends.
In accordance with the invention, a chin loop headset has two acoustic transducers, one for each ear, and two side pieces, to the upper ends of which are fixed a respective one of the transducers for positioning at the ear. At their lower end the side pieces are connected together and thus together form a bay-like or arch-like configuration which, when a user fits the chin loop headset, extends from one ear to the other under the chin of the user. The upper ends of the side pieces can be moved elastically away from each other to produce contact pressure for the transducers against the ears, preferably by way of pads between the transducers and the ears, being distributed more comfortably for the user over a larger area of the external parts of the ears, the side pieces being elastically movable away from each other, more specifically preferably by the side pieces being elastically transversely deformable over their length. In accordance with the invention, in such a chin loop headset, the distance between the upper ends of the side pieces, that is to say the distance between the ear contact surfaces of the transducers, can be adjusted at the connection of the lower ends of the side pieces, namely in particular before the chin loop headset is fitted by the user. In that way the spring travel of the side pieces which, as described in relation to the state of the art, produces the contact pressure with which the transducers are pressed against the ears, can be adjusted to the individual width of the head of the user (the distance between the external parts of the ears of the user and in that respect in particular the surface regions which are in contact with the transducers when the headset is fitted). If that adjustment operation is effected when the chin loop headset according to the invention is fitted in position, the distance between the transducers at the upper ends of the side pieces admittedly does not change, for when the chin loop headset is fitted that distance is naturally predetermined by the distance between the ears, butxe2x80x94and this also corresponds to the basic object of the inventionxe2x80x94the biasing force of the upper ends of the side pieces, which can be moved elastically away from each other, against the external parts of the ears of the user is changed by the change in resilient deflection of the side pieces, and thus in accordance with the invention it is possible to adjust the contact pressure of the transducers (or the pads preferably mounted on the transducers) against the pressure-sensitive external parts of the ears of the user.
Preferably a hinge joint forms the connection between the lower ends of the side pieces, which can be arrested at any angle of opening. This therefore affords an adjustable width in respect of the bay-like configuration formed by the side pieces and consequently in accordance with the invention this also involves an adjustable distance between the upper ends of the side pieces, where the transducers are fixed.
By way of example, at the hinge joint the side pieces are movable from a rest position with a small angle between the side pieces and a small distance between their upper ends into an operative position with a larger angle between the side pieces and a larger distance between their upper ends, and a spring in the region of the connection biases the side pieces towards each other in the direction of the rest position. As a result, the chin loop headset in accordance with the invention moves, with spring actuation, into the space-saving rest position when the side pieces are not actuated and moved away from each other by a user. Preferably, the movement of the side pieces in the direction of the operative position is limited by an abutment which is adjustable for adjustment in accordance with the invention of the distance between the upper ends of the side pieces. More specifically, by virtue of the fact that the angular position of the abutment is so adjustable that the side pieces which are moved against the abutment in the operative position assume relative to each other an angle which is adjustable by means of the abutment, in accordance with the invention the distance between the transducers at the upper end""s of the side pieces can also be adjusted by way of the displacement of the abutment.
In this preferred embodiment of the chin loop headset according to the invention, therefore, the user moves the side pieces out of the rest position against the biasing force of the springxe2x80x94which preferably has a comparatively small spring constantxe2x80x94into the operative position, in a condition of bearing against the adjustable abutment. He now bends the upper ends away from each other so that the side pieces are transversely deformed over their length elasticallyxe2x80x94with preferably a greater spring constant than the springxe2x80x94and the acoustic transducers at the upper ends of the side pieces are then fitted into the ears of the user. If the user now finds that the biasing force of the side pieces against his ears is excessively low, he displaces the abutment in the direction of a smaller angle between the side pieces in order to increase the magnitude of the resilient deflection of the side piecesxe2x80x94that is to say the contact pressurexe2x80x94against his ears on his head between the side pieces.
Or, if the transducers press unpleasantly strongly into his ears, he suitably displaces the abutment in the direction of a larger angle between the side pieces, to relieve the spring force exerted thereby.
Preferably the spring pulls the side pieces into the rest position so that in that way a button for example for switching off the headset, is actuated in the rest position.
The invention is described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawing.